Model is mermaid to order: With her covergirl looks, Linden Wolbert is a great catch, if you can ignore her tail

Unlike most models, Linden Wolbert doesn’t need a catwalk or studio – the side of a boat will do.

She travels the world as a professional mermaid for hire and uses a custom-made £10,000 tail to propel her through the water.

The 32-year-old is also a freediver who drops to depths of 35m (115ft) and uses her skills to promote ocean conservation to children.

Under the sea, under the sea (Picture: Linden Wolbert/Caters/Wendy Capili-Wilkie)

‘I love the feeling of freedom and weightlessness in the water,’ said Miss Wolbert. ‘It’s such a different sensation. It’s very dream-like. The power of the tail is amazing. I can go very fast. The feeling in my hair when I’m diving under water is like nothing else. Free diving is 70 per cent psychological. You have to be very calm and at ease in the water.’

Miss Wolbert always dreamed of becoming a mermaid after growing up watching The Little Mermaid and Splash but it didn’t become a reality until she got to know Hollywood special effects artist Allan Holt.

They spent seven months working on the 16kg (35lb) tail, which was made from a fibreglass mould of her body. It involved sealing a monofin inside silicone to make it hydro- dynamic. The thousands of fish scales were sculpted from clay before being copied in fibreglass and then the final mould was injected with silicone.

Miss Wolbert has been hired to perform at a string of Hollywood parties hosted by celebrities including Jessica Alba and Justin Timberlake.

‘I’ve been diving with sharks and, with my tail, I’m longer than most of them,’ she said. ‘The sea creatures are very inquisitive. They come up to me to take a closer look because I’m not blowing bubbles like divers.’

In some of these images, she is swimming in Jellyfish Lake on the island of Palau, which used to be connected to the Pacific Ocean.

Linden Wolbert back on dry land (Picture: Linden Wolbert/Caters/Wendy Capili-Wilkie)

Since it has been cut off, it has become home to millions of jellyfish because they have no predators.

The 12,000-year-old lake is the only place in the world where you can swim safely among them because they have lost their stings.